【Bawdy Tales of Edo: Octopus & Sea Shell】

It's hard to talk to kids about feminism and Bawdy Tales of Edo: Octopus & Sea Shellnot bore them to death. Imagine being in first grade and having to listen to your mother preach to you about suffragists, when all you want to do is eat the cold hot dog in your lunchbox.

So I have tremendous respect for the concept behind the new Women Who Changed the World app, designed to teach young kids about important women in history. The app launched in January. (It's currently only available for iOS.) It's exactly the kind of app you would want to give to your kids: smart, meaningful, kid-friendly, and with beautiful visuals.

The navigation isn't quite there. Thankfully, the mission is.

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Teaching young people about feminism and feminist leaders is no easy task. Trust me, I was a school social worker. It's a challenge to get young people to even understand what inequality is, let alone to study its history. Before they can realize the value of feminist leaders, they need to see how injustice shapes their own lives. That's a serious obstacle, and it can be especially hard for younger kids who are just learning how to tie their shoes. Imagine tasking this demographic group with exploring equal rights.

Women Who Changed The World at least tries -- and tries hard.

Valuable lessons

As the name suggests, the app features different women who have revolutionized culture in one way or another. It was created by Learny Land and is intended for children age four and up. However it's really targeted for kids between the ages of nine and 11. (I should note that I'm in my mid-thirties, and I still loved this app.) It's refreshingly diverse, featuring women from different racial, ethnic, and geographic backgrounds. Users can click on a woman and learn about her historical contributions through an interactive, animated story.

There are plenty of women to choose from: Frida Kahlo, the artist; Rosa Parks, the civil rights activist; Marie Curie, the scientist; Amelia Earhart, the pilot; Jane Goodall, the biologist; Malala Yousafzai, the human rights activist; Wangari Maathai, the environmental activist; and several women astronauts who grouped together.

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It's deeply affirming to see women from all different professional backgrounds represented. Kids and snobby adults should know that success doesn't belong to one profession or another.

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I loved following these animated women and interacting with their narratives. There were facts I didn't know and stories I knew but enjoyed getting a refresher on. It was so much more fun to "water" one of the thousands of trees Wangari Maathai helped plant than simply hear a lecture about her. The storyline for Rosa Parks is more complex than the one I received in my elementary school history classes. The portrayals of these women are tender, and it made me feel so damn fuzzy while I played with it.

User experience and value

While the illustrations are beautiful, unfortunately, interacting with Women Who Changed the World can be a challenge. It's difficult to move from one screen to the next. Sometimes, the key to moving forward in the story is pressing the teeny tiny play key in the corner of the screen. Other times, you'll have to execute a small challenge before you're allowed to progress to the next part of the narrative.

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What that challenge is unfortunately is not clearly defined. I would sometimes get so lost I'd send myself back to the home screen just to retry the whole story. It was unnecessary and frustrating. It's possible app developers did this to encourage children to engage in free, interactive digital play. Often the play left me feeling more confused than it did inspired.

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Women Who Changed the World could be greatly improved by alerting users when it's time to move to the next slide. Alternatively, it could clearly define what the interactive challenge is for each section.

Women Who Changed the World costs $2.99 to download. That might seem like a bit high, especially when there are so many other kids apps that are free, but I found it well worth the price. There are no in-app purchases and no third-party advertising.

The verdict

Women Who Changed the World app is a decidedly fun app for adults who want to the spread the mission of feminism, and it's just interactive enough to inspire engagement among kids. Its promise would be even stronger if the app's developers are able improve the user experience to make navigation easier.

If you're willing to persist through the design flaws though, the app is worth it. It's bound to be far more empowering than any app you're currently using. Do you really want to sit through Trump's conspiracy theories on Twitter? How many more times do you need to check your work email today? Are you sure you want to engage with your aunt's ramblings about "building that wall" on Facebook?

If you want to improve your day and learn some fun facts, Women Who Changed the World is nothing if not kind. Kindness rules above all.

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Topics Apps & Software Reviews